Gavin's heart sank. Of course the ship that brought Y would be hidden
in the neighborhood. It would be simple enough for them to refuel the
_Nova_.
Y had taken time to release the slaves and dispose of the bodies of
the crew. That, Gavin surmised, was what had delayed the _Nova's_
take-off long enough for him to slip aboard. Now should the _Nova_ be
apprehended in space, the Interplanetary patrol would be forced to
release her for lack of evidence.
Villanowski glanced up. "We're licked, lad. We may as well toss in the
towel."
Gavin looked at the chief engineer blankly.
"You mean," asked Y of Villanowski, "that you and Murdock are working
for the same organization?"
The chief engineer laughed bitterly. "We're not working for anyone, but
ourselves. You forget, Mr. Y, that the four-dimensional drive isn't the
only contribution I've made to interplanetary travel. General Atomic
stole the others. We had hoped--" he jerked his head at Gavin "--to
keep this one for ourselves!"
Gavin's mind was going in circles like a dog chasing its tail. What was
Villanowski's motive?
"Go on," said Y in a foreboding voice.
Villanowski looked down at his chains. "A ship travels through space
during a passage of time. It had occurred to me that if I could invert
the formula and drive a ship through time during a passage of space,
the crude rocket ships could be abandoned. Murdock had gotten in
trouble when Transplanet was discovered to be a colonal smuggling ring.
He had studied astrophysics under me at New Yale. I knew him and knew I
could trust him."
Gavin swallowed and struggled to keep a grip on himself. Obviously
Villanowski had something up his sleeve.
Villanowski looked at Gavin. "We needed a space ship to complete our
experiments. The effect of the drive on a body at rest was startling
enough to predict success if we could attain sufficient velocity."
Gavin thought he detected a faint stressing of the word "startling".
Villanowski had said, "_The effect of the drive on a body at rest was
startling_...." The _Nova_ was at rest!
"I persuaded Cabot," Villanowski proceeded, "to let me install the
mechanism aboard the _Nova_. Murdock was to try--"
Gavin jumped.
With a back-handed, edge-on swipe, he caught Y in the throat full on
his larynx.
Nadia screamed as Y went over backwards and lay still. The factor
leaped to his feet. Gavin kicked him in the belly. Spinning against the
girl, he wrenched out of her hand the dart-gun which she was drawing.
"The keys!" Villanowski panted. "Y has them."
Nadia opened her mouth to scream again.
"Don't." Gavin pointed the dart-gun straight at her open mouth. Nadia
shut it.
The factor was writhing on the deck, but Y lay like dead. Gavin found
the keys and released Villanowski.
"The engine room," he cried, "we've got to reach the engine room."
"Take Y's gun," said Gavin. He turned on Nadia. "Come along. We can't
leave you here to sound an alarm."
Nadia's lips were bloodless. She moved stiffly between them, Gavin's
dart-gun prodding her gently in the spine.
They reached the engine room without being discovered and disarmed the
startled guard. Villanowski whistled a bar in C sharp and then said,
"Open sesame." The door in the steel bulkhead swung soundlessly outward.
There was a faint grin on Villanowski's homely face. "Sound waves set
its mechanism in operation. I read a story when I was a youngster--Ali
Baba and the Forty Thieves," he confessed. "When I built the lock I
couldn't resist designing it to respond to those vibrations."
The ship rocked slightly.
"What's that?"
"Felt like the blow-back of an atom jet," Gavin replied tersely. "I
think Y's ship, the _Comet_, is landing."
The _Nova_ rocked again, more violently than before, and a faint rush
of flaming jets penetrated to the engine room.
Villanowski scuttled through the door with Gavin prodding Nadia after
him. The chief darted for the control board, seized a gleaming lever,
slid it cautiously along a slot.
The huge spherical tube, which Gavin had observed before, began to glow
gently. The yellow mist, he saw, was gathering in the outer room, but
the air in their chamber remained crystal clear.
"The time field," Villanowski explained, "creates a neutral area, an
oasis, around the point of generation."
Gavin rubbed his eyes. On the other side of the door was nothing! It
was like looking out into the void beyond the farthermost limits of the
stars.
"Now, Murdock," Gavin heard Villanowski ask, "when do you expect the
interplanetary patrol spacers to land?"
* * * * *
Gavin wheeled around. There was an uncertain smile on Villanowski's
homely features.
"How did you know?"
"The little death," Villanowski explained complacently. "When Miss
Petrovna told me her dream, I knew...."
"You _are_ a T.I.S. agent!" Nadia interrupted in an odd voice. She
put her hand on Gavin's sleeve. "You're going to turn me over to the
courts?"
Two white patches appeared at the corners of Gavin's mouth. "Sure. The
patrol spacers are on their way. I couldn't turn them back now--" he
paused--"even if I wanted to."
"Give me a chance, Gavin?"